Hewitt through as Chela loses his cool

Lleyton Hewitt survived a bad-tempered clash with Juan Ignacio Chela to book his place in the fourth round of the Australian Open.

Chela took objection to one of Hewitt’s trademark shouts of ’Come on’ when he missed an easy volley in the fourth set and spat in the Australian’s direction at the change of ends.

The Argentinian also drove a ball straight at the number three seed in the next game but Hewitt had the last laugh, winning 6-2 4-6 6-1 6-4 to set up a last 16 clash with Spain’s Rafael Nadal. Nadal thrashed American qualifier Bobby Reynolds 6-1 6-1 6-3.

Hewitt confirmed Chela had spat towards him but said he would not be taking the matter further.

“I didn’t really notice too much,” Hewitt said. “He spat in my direction. He apologised to me at the net after the match and I accepted his apology.

“I don’t think it’s the right thing. It’s unfortunate because we were having a good dogfight. It’s sad something like that happens but at the end of the day he apologised and I said just 'Forget about it mate'.”

Chela admitted he “hated” to hear Hewitt’s cries of ’Come on’ after crucial points but apologised for the incident. “Right now I am really sorry for that,” said the 26th seed. “It was a very tense moment. There was a lot of pressure on my shoulders. At the end of the match I apologised and he accepted and everything was okay in the locker room.”

Earlier in the day, Andy Roddick eased through his match with Austria’s Jurgen Melzer at the Australian Open – and then survived a much tougher clash with Jim Courier.

Roddick, facing his third left-hander in a row after victories over Irakli Labadze and Britain’s Greg Rusedski, raced to a 6-2 6-2 7-5 win, the highlight of which was a forehand winner played between his legs with his back to the court as he chased down a lob.

But the second seed had a harder time fending off the off-beat questions from Courier afterwards in the former world number one’s new role as a television commentator.

“Jimmy’s making me grind in those post match interviews,” joked Roddick, who was grilled on his love life by Courier in a court-side interview. “But in all fairness, I think he’s bringing out a lighter side of the players. As uncomfortable as it may be at times, I think he’s doing a pretty good job.

“I think it’s great for this setting but more stuff like that could be incorporated everywhere. People hear about forehands and backhands pretty much every day. He’s getting under our skin a little bit. But I’m sure it’s good for the fans.”

Roddick will play surprise package Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany in the fourth round, the world number 102 beating French qualifier Jean-Rene Lisnard 7-5 6-3 6-2.

Argentinian duo Guillermo Coria and Guillermo Canas also advanced to the fourth round in convincing style.

Sixth seed Coria defeated former French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-3 6-2 6-1, recovering from 3-2 down in the opening set to reel off 16 of the next 19 games.

And Canas was equally impressive in beating Radek Stepanek 6-1 6-2 6-2 to set up a last 16 clash with Russian Nikolay Davydenko, another straight-sets winner over Britain’s seventh seed Tim Henman.

Coria will play David Nalbandian in the next round after the former Wimbledon finalist made it three Argentinians into the last 16 with victory over Chile’s Fernando Gonzalez.

Nalbandian, the ninth seed, recovered from losing the first set to win 6-7 7-5 6-2 6-3.

Coria missed several months of last season with a shoulder injury which required surgery in August, but feels he is almost back to the sort of form which saw him reach the French Open final in 2004.

“I’m very close,” said the 23-year-old. “After being such a long time out of the circuit, coming back and being in the fourth round of a big tournament is very important.

“Today’s match was a great test for me to check my performance. I’m serving much stronger than before, and that’s giving me lots of confidence.

“I’m working hard on this kind of surface to be as good as I can be on clay. To be number one you have to be the best in all kinds of surfaces.”